I'd lived briefly in another major German city, München, earlier that year. There was simply no comparing the two. München  a city which I do like a great deal  is a neat, clean, urbane, predictable mini-metropolis, with lots of charming cafés and a large student population. München is full of history, neatly packaged in street names and monuments. Berlin is gritty, chaotic, unpredictable, filled with historical loose ends and remnants of past eras.

A sales assistant at a bakery in Bavaria would give you a warm welcome and treat you kindly while you're in the bakery, but she'd leave you to bleed to death if something were to happen to you right in front of the bakery directly before or after your visit. A sales assistant in Berlin would show you exactly how much she enjoys her job: not at all. But she'd help you if something were to happen. A slightly less extreme example (true story): In the bakery, there's still one piece of cherry pie and almost an entire strawberry pie. This raises the question: is the cherry pie so good that it's already almost sold out, or is that piece left over from yesterday? So my girlfriend asks the sales assistant: "I'm not really sure yet whether I should have the cherry or the strawberry." The sales assistant's reply: "I don't give a toss!" short pause "...but I'd go with the cherry."

Apart from the obvious advantages of cultural diversity, this guarantees that no one in Berlin ever has to eat German food unless they really, really want to. The Italian food is particularly good, and there is no shortage of sources. Across from my old flat, in Mulackstraße, is a small Italian restaurant and art gallery called Sisal, with some of the best penne all'arrabbiata anywhere. Another of my favourites, Die zwölf Apostel offers excellent pizza in a highly enjoyable atmosphere. Turkish food of all kinds is available in abundance, including some quite interesting examples of fusion cuisine, such as the döner and pizza restaurant at the corner of Wilhelm-Pieck-(Tor)Straße and Rosenthaler Straße or the utterly sublime combination of döner and chicken schnitzel (fried, breaded chicken served in pita bread with salad and hot or garlic yoghurt sauce) available at the Istanbul Grill in Potsdamer Straße.

For those looking for rather unconventional souvenirs, or simply the occasional curio, Berlin has a large flea market in the Tiergarten district, filled with everything from Soviet and DDR paraphenalia (military uniforms, insignia, boots, binoculars, pocketwatches, flags, old money, etc.). Most of the vendors are from the Eastern Bloc or points beyond, and live to haggle. No price is final. Depending on how experienced you look, it is sometimes possible to get a reduction of over 70%.